Oak Eleganza Flip-Thru Shelf with Blond Base Inlay

One Oak Eleganza Record Shelf unit and one 'blond' Baltic Birch base inlay with walnut stain, both finished with clear satin lacquer.
Use this configuration for lower stacked shelves if top inlays are not needed. Minimal assembly required, each shelf holds 150 LPs.
Interlocking construction allows stacking up to six shelves high.

Design Overview:

Virtually every record collector tussles with the quandary of how to store their ever-growing collection of cherished LPs. As avid collectors ourselves, we are sadly aware of the limitations of available vinyl storage options. Cardboard LP storage boxes are unsightly, cumbersome, and stack poorly. Ditto for milk crates and the slew of other on-the-cheap storage methods. Designed initially to house our own record collections, our Shelf Systems incorporate several key features:

• Durable Construction. Hand-crafted by the same Amish family that makes our rock-solid SAMSON racks, the handsome Mapleshade Record Shelf System uses first rate solid ¾” oak. Crist and Uri meticulously hand-assemble the components using no staples, cardboard, plastic, or MDF. Our Record Shelf System offers exceptional material and handcrafted quality.

• Ease of Use. Assembly is simple, requiring only a screwdriver. Stored LPs have all their spines clearly visible. That obscure European pressing of your favorite artist is always right at your fingertips. No unstacking and restacking of boxes, no sifting from crate to crate. Your complete collection is readily accessible and easy to keep organized so you can focus on listening to great music.

• Expandability. Each shelf holds 150 LPs. Add extra units as needed. Our interlocking shelves are so sturdy and rigid that they can be stacked 6 units high. This allows you to store up to 900 LPs in little more than 2 1/2 square feet of precious floor space. Our Record Shelf System is designed to expand as your collection grows.

• For The Elegant Listening Room. We offer our Eleganza series for rooms where it is important that the record storage integrates handsomely into an elegant décor. We offer both Finished Oak and Ambrosian Maple, with handsomely contrasting flush bottom plates and an inset top – allowing you to utilize the top for display or extra storage. To add further elegance, we offer a matching base to raise the bottom shelf off the floor. A rolling caster base is another option.

It wasn’t too long ago that I figured my vinyl-buying days were over. By high-end standards my collection was a modest one, maybe 1500 or so LPs.
But they were choice—carefully culled over the years, only the best discs had survived. These were stored on classic Per Madsen stackable oak record
racks accumulated back in the 1980s. By the turn of the millennium my collection was neither growing nor shrinking, and Per Madsen was no longer
building record racks.

However, with the premium vinyl resurgence of the last few years my collection has begun increasing once again. I’ve been playing more records than ever.
And as in my long-ago college days, I’ve got batches of records sitting on the floor once more. Long story short, I never thought I’d be in the market
for another LP rack system.

But riding to the rescue was Mapleshade. A stalwart of the high end, Mapleshade’s beginnings can be traced to the purist recordings of engineer Pierre
Sprey, who built the Mapleshade Studio in 1986 and launched the Mapleshade label in 1990. Achieving renown for their indie audiophile recordings,
Mr. Sprey and his partners also researched and developed what has turned into a full-blown catalog (68 pages and counting) and a grab bag of tweaks,
cable, racks, and mods.

The racks are constructed of 3/4" finished or unfinished oak or finished Ambrosia maple, and are still hand-crafted by the same Amish family that also
builds Mapleshade’s massive Samson racks. They are beautifully sawn with clean edges and immaculate corners. Even in the unfinished oak that I opted for,
the smooth grain was like silk to the touch. The racks are stackable and stable up to four units high. At 27", they are wider and heavier than the
Per Madsen 18" standard, and the planks are cut thicker—all the better to support the latest crop of 200-gram reissues.

Admittedly I’m no Thomas Chippendale, so the prospect of assembling anything with more than two or three parts was a little unnerving. However these
Mapleshades were a snap. The materials arrived so carefully packaged that the planks and end pieces hadn’t shifted an inch within the box. Each rack
is made up of two square vertical end pieces, a pair of right-angle planks, and two flat planks, all connected by eight wood screws and four tiny
wood plugs. (Pre-tapped holes are aligned and neatly sunk into each rack to accept the wood plugs for righteously secure stackability.) No glue is
required anywhere.

It took a mere fifteen minutes to assemble a Mapleshade rack, gather up a few dozen homeless LPs, and slide them securely into place. Aligning the
edges of each jacket just as I always have, I stood back and surveyed my efforts and felt a wave of nostalgia. I recollected a time when I nearly
gave up my records for a new “improved” format. But now, years later, I’m far more skeptical of such claims. As vinyl continues to be issued and
reissued, LPs have never seemed more alive and relevant. Thanks to Mapleshade finding a place to store them will never be a problem again.
—Neil Gader

For order status and tracking please click here to log-in to your account. Then select the "View Your Order History" link, choose an order number, and scroll down to the "Tracking Information" field. For technical questions about our products and system upgrade advice, please email info@mapleshadestore.com or call (410)867-7543.